It was amazing how different the tunnels looked when they were properly illuminated. Although a few of the lights were dark, probably because of some accident up on the surface that had broken or tilted the mirrors, enough were lit that the tunnel looked like an overgrown trail through dense undergrowth, every surface being covered by greenery to a depth of almost two feet in places. They could almost imagine that the fern covered ceiling was the overhanging branches of shrubs and small trees growing alongside their path, and that the greenish light filtering through obscuring leaves and fronds came from the actual yellow sun. Only the low gravity spoiled the effect, and added the conflicting illusion that they were swimming just above the bed of a shallow sea, the dense green seaweed above them obscuring their view of the waves overhead.

     The sunlight and the presence of so much life all around them had an amazingly revitalising effect on Lirenna, and Thomas felt his heart swelling with joy as he watched her almost literally coming back to life. The sparkle came back into her eyes, the gloss came back to her hair and the lines on her face were smoothed away as the sickness of the soul that had been afflicting her for so many weeks left her, and when she laughed for the first time since leaving the surface of Tharia, tears came to Thomas’s eyes and he thought that his heart would burst. Surely no human heart could contain so much happiness, so much relief without rupturing! From somewhere up ahead came the sound of birdsong, and Lirenna’s cry of delight was so much in contrast to her earlier mood that the others simply couldn’t help laughing in return.

     “Birds!” she cried joyously. “What are birds doing up here?”

     “Canaries,” said Jerry. “The trogs often take canaries and other small birds down into their mines, to check for gas and bad air. I bet the moon trogs did the same. A few must have escaped and learned how to survive on their own.”

     When Thomas looked at Lirenna, he saw that there were tears in her eyes, brimming over until they broke away into small salty globules drifting away in the tunnel. “I never thought I’d hear birdsong again!” she sobbed. “Oh Tom!”

     Thomas realised that he was grinning like an idiot but he didn’t care. He’d never been so happy in his life.

     The new mood of joy and happiness wasn’t to last, though, as Kronos revealed another of its secrets a few minutes later. One moment they were drifting along the tunnel, pulling and guiding themselves by grabbing hold of the vegetation all around them, the iron rungs now being buried out of reach beneath a considerable depth of damp organic matter. The next they were jolted out of their complacency by a whirlwind of teeth, claws and fur exploding from an opening in the tunnel they hadn’t seen until it was too late.

     The animal hit Jerry full on, breaking his hold on a small woody shrub and knocking him, spinning out of control, into the middle of the tunnel. The creature hung onto him by the shoulders with its forepaws, its claws digging through his clothes and deep into his flesh, and scratched at his stomach with its long clawed hind legs, and as the others got their first good look at it, they saw that it was huge cat. A chestnut coloured tabby grown to the size of a large dog, its ears folded flat against the sides of its head and its teeth bared as it spat directly into the tiny nome’s face as he searched frantically for his knife.

     The first two kicks from its hind legs tore his clothes to shreds, the third one ripped deep gashes in his stomach, spilling out a crimson cloud of floating blood droplets. The fourth would have disemboweled him, but a pair of firebolts from Thomas’s pointing finger hit it in the flank. The huge cat spun away in surprise and pain, pushing itself away back towards the cover of its tunnel and sending Jerry flying in the opposite direction to bounce off the fern covered tunnel wall, a spray of blood droplets still fountaining from his wounds.

     More cats were appearing all around them, though. Monsters the size of alsatians in all the breeds and colours of their smaller domesticated ancestors. A ginger tom six feet from nose to tail launched itself at Shaun and died on his sword, its corpse adding to the crimson cloud rapidly obscuring their vision. The soldier managed to maintain his hold on the mossy branch, but the blow swung him around to the side so that he landed on his back on the floor, and in the time it took him to regain control of himself another cat with brown patches in its white fur landed on him, sinking its claws deep into his shoulders through the flimsy silk bathrobe and kicking with its hind legs. Unlike Jerry’s expensive velvet clothes, the thin silk was no protection and the soldier screamed in pain as the claws raked his flesh, driven with all the strength the huge animal had at its command.

     Matthew heard his brother’s scream, but had problems of his own as he spitted a long haired tabby through the heart and then kicked it off in time to fend off another. Lirenna hit the cat attacking Shaun with a pair of firebolts, however, and the brown and white screamed in pain, but instead of letting go it dug its claws in even deeper and closed its jaws over his windpipe. It bit down hard and the soldier’s scream died off into a bubbling gurgle as blood gushed from his throat and sprayed out of his mouth.

     Another pair of firebolts shot by the shae girl hit it in the side, and this time it was killed, but its jaws continued to clamp down on his throat in a death spasm and the frantically struggling fighter began to grow limp and turn blue. The demi shae was unable to give him any further help, however, as a blue eyed, grey furred lydian crouched down in the moss and launched itself at her. Lirenna saw it coming and dodged, kicking off to the side, and the cat missed, one claw opening a gash in her arm as it passed. The demi shae was left spinning in the middle of the tunnel and when the cat landed it grabbed hold of the moss with its claws, took a second or two to aim itself and then jumped off again, straight at her.

     “Lenny!” screamed Thomas, seeing her danger, and he shot another pair of firebolts, hitting the lydian and killing it. The dead cat continued to fly along the same path, however, hitting her like a furry torpedo and throwing her wildly backwards to land in a soft patch of ferns. She tried to grab hold of a bunch of fronds, but she was moving too fast and they tore away in her hand, leaving a green stain on her fingers as she bounced back out into the middle of the tunnel. More cats lined themselves up on her, preparing to jump as she struggled to get herself back under control.

     Jerry saw a group of three cats fixing their attention on Diana, the cleric being the only one they hadn’t attacked yet. She was clutching her silver caroli flower in both hands and praying in fearful desperation as she watched her brothers and Thomas trying to fight off the main group, completely unaware of the three that had somehow gotten behind them. The tiny nome tried to ignore the burning pain in his stomach as he reached for the last of his sand. Tiny golden grains scattered in all directions as he tried to scoop up a decent sized pinch between thumb and forefinger, and he threw it at the three cats, simultaneously chanting the words of the sleep spell. Throwing the sand sent him into a slow spin, though, and for a moment he was distracted, his concentration broken, but he picked up the magic words as quickly as possible and completed the spell as best he could.

     By all rights the spell should have been broken, but the Gods of luck were with them and the three cats who’d been about to attack the cleric collapsed into unconsciousness and drifted limply away from the wall. A scream came from Lirenna, however, and they all looked up to see her stabbing her sharpened table knife into the face of an evil looking black cat that had leapt at her. By sheer chance it opened a flap of skin under the giant cat’s right eye and the creature, losing all interest in juicy shayen flesh, pushed itself off back towards the side tunnel. This time, when the demi shae hit the tunnel wall she managed to grab hold of the vegetation growing on it and hold herself there.

     The air was now thick with a fog of blood droplets, coating everything, Tharians, cats and vegetation, with a slick scarlet dampness that dried quickly into a brown crust. Shaun had finally managed to tear the brown and white cat away from his throat and, although he kept coughing up blood and gasping through his damaged windpipe, he was able to fight once more. After some initial confusion, as they got used to fighting in the low gravity, they were beginning to learn how to defend themselves, and by staying close to Thomas and Diana they were able to protect them as well, but Jerry and Lirenna were about thirty feet away, with the main group of the cats between them and the others. The demi shae and the tiny nome worked their way over to each other and prepared to cast their remaining spells as the cats turned away from the more difficult targets. Lirenna cast a sleep spell, putting two cats to sleep, and Jerry killed two others with firebolts, but then they were out of magic with eight hungry cats still to deal with.

     Shaun and Matthew watched helplessly as the cats turned their backs on them and prepared to leap on Jerry and Lirenna. They’d just about figured out how to defend themselves in low gravity, but an aggressive attack was another thing entirely and they could see themselves coming unstuck very easily and becoming catfood. Shaun reached for his bow and arrows, thanking the Gods for his foresight in taking them from the Konnen guard, but then realised with horror that he couldn’t string the bow without the gravity to give him the weight necessary to bend it. He struggled with it for a while before throwing it away in frustration and anger.

     Thomas saw two of the cats bunching their muscles ready to leap at the other two wizards, who were holding their pitifully small, sharpened table knives ready for a final desperate and probably futile defence. He only had enough magic for one more spell, so it would have to be a good one. He reached into a pouch for his spell components, intending to cast a Flaming Sphere, but then he hesitated in fear and doubt.

     In normal gravity, the ball of fire rolled and bounced along the ground towards his enemies. He had no idea how it would act in Kronos’s very low gravity. What was more, he had no way of controlling it once it was cast. Jerry and Lirenna were also in that direction, beyond the cats. If it went past them and kept on going… There was no time to worry about that, though. If he did nothing they were dead anyway. He muttered a prayer to the Magister, therefore, and cast the spell.

     A three foot wide ball of fire appeared in front of him, so close that it dazzled him and singed his eyebrows, and then it moved away at walking speed, floating a foot or two above the ground. On Tharia it would have been pulled down by gravity to bounce along the ground, but in Kronos’s microgravity it simply floated serenely, hissing softly as it went, touching nothing and not deviating in the slightest from its perfectly straight course. The cats heard it and smelled the unfamiliar scent of fire, and looked around in alarm as it approached, their instinctive fear of fire making them draw back a little, but they relaxed as it passed them harmlessly by and Thomas’s heart sank with dread. Soon it would burn itself out, and then the cats would attack. His friends had been granted a few more seconds of life, but that was all.